Loch Enoch from the slopes of Mullwharchar - geograph

Loch Enoch is a multi-basin freshwater loch in

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or ...

, to the east of Merrick and south of Mullwharchar. The loch is situated in a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

basin and has several small islands and some beaches on its shore. The sharp granite sand of these beaches was collected and sold for sharpening knives and

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor mac ...

s. The catchment area's vegetation is mainly Purple Moor Grass and Heather. The loch's outflow supplies

Loch Doon Loch Doon ( gd, Loch Dùin, ) is a freshwater loch in Carrick, Scotland. The River Doon issues from its northern end, while the loch itself receives waters from Gala Lane and Loch Enoch (in the Galloway Hills) via Eglin Lane. History In the ...

and the

River Doon The River Doon ( gd, Abhainn Dhùin, ) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. Its course is generally north-westerly, passing near to the town of Dalmellington, and through the villages of Patna, Dalrymple, and Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns. ...

, both in Ayrshire.

Acidification

By 1800 the water of Loch Enoch had already become

acidic In computer science, ACID ( atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is a set of properties of database transactions intended to guarantee data validity despite errors, power failures, and other mishaps. In the context of databases, a ...

. J. McBain in his 1929 book ''The Merrick and the Neighbouring Hills. Tramps by Hill, Stream and Loch'' describes a

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

that 'bore the unmistakable marks of a Loch Enoch trout, i.e. it was minus the lower half of its tail and part of its

ventral fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two ...

s'. McBain writes that the last recorded trout caught was in 1899. Since 1940 the loch became more acidic due to industrial emissions and in the 1950s it completely lost its fish population. In 1994 it was restocked with 3000 trout. The loch has not become more acidic since the mid-1970s and has become slightly less acidic from the 1980s onwards, with the pH increasing slowly from around 4.3 in 1978 to 4.9 in 2003. Between 1983 and 2003 the loch's

DOC DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: In film and television * ''Doc'' (2001 TV series), a 2001–2004 PAX series * ''Doc'' (1975 TV series), a 1975–1976 CBS sitcom * "D.O.C." (''Lost''), a television episode * ''Doc'' (film), a 1971 Wester ...

levels increased.

Water analysis

References

External links

Audio description of silver sand collection from Loch Enoch and use

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{{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub